Why Being In the Flesh Is a Good Thing
We all have hobbies: cooking, film, photography, reading, sports, and many others. People who know me know that one of mine is running. However, this hasn’t always been the case. In the fall of 2009, God began to convict me about the increase in my eating and the decrease in my exercising. This conviction climaxed that Christmas when I realized that I had gained nearly 30 pounds in the previous year. “Am I really honoring God with my body?” I thought to myself.
This led me to consider what the Bible has to say about the body. What has the Bible to say about those fleshly, physical aspects of our lives? Do they matter to God? I discovered that Scripture answers this question with a resounding ‘yes’.
The Bible
Contrary to popular opinion, the Bible does not teach that the flesh is evil. It teaches that its [read: our] deeds, desires, and lusts are evil (Gal. 5:16, 19; Eph. 2:3; 1 Jn. 2:16), but it does not teach that it is evil in itself. Consider our creation, Jesus’ incarnation, and our consummation: God created mankind as sinless in the flesh—pronouncing it “very good” even—Jesus Himself became flesh, and God will resurrect our bodies in the flesh.
a. Creation
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). On the sixth day, He created humankind (1:26ff), and proclaimed this creation “very good” (1:31). He created us as embodied creatures, free from sin and its consequences. In this pre-Fall state, the body was good. Hence, the flesh in itself is neither evil nor inferior, since God Himself created it. Therefore, our bodies are neither of these things—and materiality in general. In fact, they are “very good.”
Having sinned, however, something significant of our full humanity has been lost. Mankind has lost its knowledge of God. Sin and corruption now plague our humanity. We stand under a curse. Thankfully, however, we retain our essential humanity. For example, we retain our five senses to hear, see, smell, taste, and touch. The apostle John even glorifies the use of these senses in the prologue of his first epistle (cf. 1 Jn. 1:1-4). Still, sin touches our whole beings—body and soul. Despite this, God offers redemption, and it is for the whole person! Redemption is God’s work of reclaiming in Christ through the Spirit that which we’ve lost. It is the journey of reclaiming our true humanity.
b. Incarnation
Having created us through Jesus Christ (cf. Col. 1:16), God also redeems us in Christ. The body in itself is neither evil nor inferior because Jesus Himself assumed human flesh in His incarnation. This was an extremely important issue in the early church, as evidenced by their controversies. Influenced by Greek, platonic philosophy, the early heretics held the following: (a) The spiritual and intellectual is superior to the physical and fleshly; (b) Jesus is in no way inferior; (c) therefore, Jesus did not assume human flesh in His incarnation. These were known as the Gnostics.
However, Christian orthodoxy has always affirmed Jesus’ literal, human, physical body. For example, the apostle John explains the incarnation this way: “And the Word became flesh,” (Jn. 1:14), and, “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 Jn. 4:2). Similarly, Paul writes that Jesus was “made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7). Such passages inspired the early church fathers to state unequivocally the following in the Nicene Creed (a.d 381): “Jesus Christ…was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.”
The significance of Christ’s flesh is also illustrated in His passion and our redemption. Because we sinned in our flesh, Christ suffered in His flesh. In other words, our redemption from corruption and death is possible because Jesus suffered in His physical body. Irenaeus (second century-202) addresses this in Against Heresies. Similarly, Athanasius (ca. 298-373) writes that Christ was “not apart from it [the flesh]” [1]. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335-395) also emphasizes, “Christ…assumes manhood in its fullness” [2]. Modern authors also make these basic points, especially Matthew Lee Anderson and Oliver O’Donovan [3]. Because Jesus assumed a physical body in entering the world, He is declaring the physical realm to be His, and as something He intends to redeem.
c. Consummation
A third reason for the physical body’s inherent goodness is its eventual consummation. Scripture’s prophecies announce that our redemption will climax with a new, physical body—not to mention a new, literal, material heaven and earth (cf. Isa. 65:17-25; 66:22-24; 2 Pt. 3:10-18; Rev. 21). “Even after my is skin destroyed / Yet from my flesh I shall see God” (Job. 19:26), writes Job. Similarly, the Lord prophesies that He will open the graves of His people and cause them to come out of them (Ezek. 37:12; cf. Isa. 26:19).
Jesus Himself commented on the fleshly and material nature of His resurrected body: “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Lk. 24:39). The apostle Paul writes similarly that Jesus “will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory” (Phil. 3:21). Paul writes in another place that we wait “eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:23).
Several hundred years later, Athanasius also comments on the redemption and resurrection of material bodies. Writing of believers’ deification (which refers to our becoming like God), Athanasius writes, “[A]ll those who believe in Christ tread [death] underfoot as nothing, and prefer to die rather than to deny their faith in Christ, knowing full well that when they die they do not perish, but live indeed, and become incorruptible through the resurrection” [4]. Put simply, our material, physical bodies are not evil or inferior. This is evident by our creation, Jesus’ incarnation, and our consummation.
Implications
As we can see, the body is not evil, and it is not inferior in its essence. As orthodox Christians, we mustn’t perpetuate this heresy. Still, some variant of this heresy has plagued the Church through her history—some teaching it explicitly [5] and others implicitly, often unaware of the consequences of their claims. And this latter example is the greater danger that threatens the Church today.
For example, in our preaching and teaching, we may teach the importance of personal Bible study. And rightfully so! However, we often discuss this as though it’s simply a “spiritual” activity. The truth is that it is also a “physical” activity, for by so doing we hold the Scriptures with our hands, read it with our eyes, and take notes on it with our fingers. This applies to other practices too, such as fasting, meditation, prayer, and many other activities that are both physical and spiritual. As Veith puts it, “Christians are sometimes so spiritually minded they forget that their faith has to do with the tangible, material, real world” [6].
To be sure, as believers faithful to God’s Word, we must teach the flesh’s total depravity (Rom. 5:12). Depravity touches our whole beings, including our flesh, which is fallen and subject to sin. Nevertheless, as persons faithful to God’s Word, we can’t stop here and so risk an implicit Gnosticism. We can’t risk even the implication of this heretical doctrine to fellow believers. Instead, we must respond with a subtle yet significant distinction:
Our bodies are not inferior to our spirits. The physical and material are not inferior to the spiritual and intellectual. Rather these hold equal significance, and in truth, they are not separate categories, but integrated aspects of the same humanity. Therefore, our flesh is not the main obstacle to our sanctification. Sin is.
Seeing the Body Through the “Jesus Lens”
“God cares for our physical and spiritual welfares. The two are intricately intertwined.” This is what I discovered following that conviction God placed on my heart in the fall of 2009. And as a result, I adopted many new habits concerning my eating and my exercising. I began running, for example. It goes to show that when we take the body seriously, it transforms both our thoughts and actions.
The Bible has much to say about glorifying God with one’s body. Yes, the flesh is fallen, but it is not evil in itself, or inferior. After all, God created us in the flesh, He came in the flesh, and He is redeeming us in the flesh. Thanks be to God!
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[1]Athanasius, Orations Against the Arians, Bk. 3, in The Christological Controversy, trans. and ed. Richard A. Norris, Jr. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980), 90.
Commenting on Athanasius’ beliefs, Peter Leithart writes, “The Son takes flesh to promote the flesh, to give it a new origin and a new life, to make a new beginning for humanity in the world” (Peter Leithart, Athanasius [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011], 153).
[2]Gregory of Nyssa, “On the Baptism of Christ” (c. 380).
[3]See Matthew Lee Anderson, Earthen Vessels: Why Our Bodies Matter to Our Faith (Bloomington: Bethany House Publishers, 2011) Oliver O’Donovan, Resurrection and the Moral Order: An Outline for Evangelical Ethics (Second Edition) (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1994).
Note also how this basic doctrine permeates Christian teaching on everything from missions to vocation. For example, in the context of missions, Christopher J. H. Wright writes, “We are not redeemed out of creation, but as part of the redeemed creation itself” (Wright, The Mission of God’s People: A Biblical Theology of the Church’s Mission [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010], 56).
Similarly, Gene Edward Veith, Jr. writes the following in the context of vocation: “Christianity…values the material world. God created…and ‘saw that it was good’ (Genesis 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25). Moreover, God entered this material world, becoming incarnate in Jesus Christ” (Veith, God At Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life [Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2002], 69).
[4]Athanasius, On the Incarnation of the Word of God (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1996), 19.
[5]For example, Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531), who was heavily influenced by Plato’s (424/23-348/47 b.c.) teachings that the spiritual is more important than the material, concluded that Jesus’ divinity was more important than His humanity. Yet as orthodox Christians, we must equally emphasize Jesus’ divinity and humanity.
[6]Veith, 121.
February 24, 2012
Excellent discussion. Thanks Matthew.
February 25, 2012
Kevin, thanks for reading and thanks for your encouragement. I visited your site, and particularly appreciated your six tips to weight loss–exercise, water, weigh-in, food, non-food, and snacks. Blessings.